Interiors

Q&A: Service Panel Surge Protection

Slab-on-Slab

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A.Rex Cauldwell responds: No. If you’re serious about protecting electrical equipment, you should use both types of devices. I’d recommend installing a secondary lightning arrestor inside the main service panel and providing a transient voltage surge suppression device at the equipment’s point of use.

The suppression system in the service panel will handle the surges that enter via the ungrounded conductors feeding the panel (a lightning hit, for example). The point-of-use suppression device will squash spikes that enter through the utility’s neutral conductor and also take care of smaller spikes that make it past the service panel protection.